August 18, 2007

I remember when Ivan was set for a direct hit on Jamaica, and how it skirted around at the last minute. Hurricane Dean looks like an unparalleled menace on a truly frightening path toward the tiny island.

Moving back to Jamaica: "...we sit here waiting, doing the best we can to prepare ourselves. And it's still a really nice sunny day today, with blue skies and hardly any clouds and a light breeze."

Jamaica Girl: "...my plan is to batter down the windows, put things in high places away from flooding and head to the man’s to shelter in his big bed!"

Stunner's Afflictions: "I will be at work! What the hell! Yes I have been forcibly drafted in the hurricane team and will be at work for quiet a long time. During the entire pre-hurricane, hurricane and post-hurricane periods. So I will spend the rest of my day securing the home front, then later it will be off to work."

Mighty Afrodite (Grand Caymans): "Dean and his whereabouts dominate the topic of all conversation, as we all get ourselves into a state of preparedness. Supermarkets are packed; cars are moved to higher ground; information is being disseminated like wildfire; plywood and shutters are being off loaded and inspected at individual residences…and it all gives me a strange sense of detached pride for my island and its peoples. Ivan was a hard lesson learned but, we learned our lesson. No one wants to be caught off guard again."

Jamaipanese: "It's the middle of the month, I am broke, it's two weeks before school reopens and a little bit over a week before elections. I just hope the storm doesn't affect us too badly for too long, I can still remember how Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Emily blasted us back to the stone age for a couple days."

Jamaica Gleaner: "Hurricane Dean roared across small Eastern Caribbean islands yesterday, tearing away roofs, flooding streets and killing at least three people as it headed west on a collision course with Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula."

Maximum Ride: Saving the World is maximum fun for a mother and daughter to read together. That’s what Jenna and I did the last couple of weeks when we received the book from MotherTalk.

The book is about six bird-children named Max, Iggy, Fang (who created a blog you can read at http://maximumride.blogspot.com), Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, and their talking dog, Total. They are trying to escape from the mad scientists at Itex Corporation who created them.

The story begins with teenage Max, leader of the pack, guiding the flock of younger children from their traumatic past in the laboratory, where they were ‘bred’ as part human, part bird. But not only is Max out to save her winged friends; she’s also out to save the world. The same bad guys at Itex who altered the children’s DNA to create this uber-species are also out to create a master race and take over the world in a “Re-evolution.”

The children, who are 98-percent human and 2-percent bird, can not only fly, but also have amazing powers of perception. Their part animal makeup gives them keen awareness of danger, and their wings help them escape threats, including their wolf-like predators (also engineered at Itex) called Erasers.

The story gets especially intense when the flock is separated and held captive, and we learn a secret about Dr. Martinez. Does the re-evolution take place? Does Max live to save the world another day? You won’t be able to stop yourself from turning the pages to find out.

August 15, 2007

life's stressors have been mounting at our house since March pretty steadily. if i believed in conspiracy theories, i'd be surveying the grassy knoll down the street 24x7. Traumatrain could you pass by? I'm not taking delivery anymore.

As a brief update, George's mother is still on life support in the hospital in Florida; George has to have some medical procedures done in the next couple of weeks; and there's more but why bore you with sadness when I can tickle you with a funny story...

So, given the amount of stress, I have augmented my general and consistent recovery work with another prong. I attended a session yesterday with a Helping Professional (AKA: shrink) to evaluate medicine options. I thought the appointment went well, albiet quickly. I felt that I shared what I needed to share to get him up to speed and keep him in the loop. Yep, that all went pretty well, I thought, walking down the hall toward the exit. "Good job, me."

That's when I glanced down at my sleeve and realized my shirt was on inside out.

Like all day.

Like, yes, during my session.

When I laughed and thought, I have to blog this, I knew I could check yesterday off as a "made it through++" day.